Pretty, So Pretty
by LovesWritingJ
Summary: He was pretty but that didn't mean he was nice.


I do not own anything but the silly plot and the characters you do not recognize.

Enjoy and leave a Review!

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><p>"<em>T'was the night before Christmas, when all through the house<em>

_Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. _

_The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,_

_In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there."_

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><p>The old, frail woman smiled at the two children sitting across from her, their eyes bright with excitement.<p>

"When's Santa going to come?" The girl, Anna asked. She looked at her grandmother, who shook her head slightly.

"Santa Claus will not come to visit and give you your presents unless you go to sleep," she started. "He can't let anyone see him while he's giving you your presents."

Niklaus, the six year old brunette boy beamed at his grandmother. "I'm going to bed!" he exclaimed as he raced up the stairs, stopping at the edge of the sleek banister to peer at his twin sister inquisitively. "C'mon Anna! You heard what Nana said. Santa's not going to give us any presents unless we're asleep. Let's go!"

Anna frowned at her brother who had disappeared from his perch. She turned to her grandmother. "Nana, why doesn't Santa let anyone see what he looks like? Is he embarrased because he's fat?"

Their grandmother grinned as she knitted the red socks. Her fingers were long and pale, though not as frail as the rest of her it seemed. "It's an old Traditional Christmas rule. If you're not asleep, Santa won't give you the presents you deserve. Then he'll write you down on the Naughty list." She patted Anna on the head. "Be a good girl, Anna. Sleep and tomorrow morning, Santa will have a pile of presents for you and your brother."

Anna nodded acceptingly. "Alright, Nana. Goodnight."

The old woman smiled to herself as she heard the small pitter-patter of the young child's footsteps. It was her first Christmas that she was to spend with her grandchildren. Her son, Tom, while fond of his mother, had never taken a liking to her hand in illegal human trafficking. She had tried to explain it to him countless of times, but Tom was stubborn. It was wrong, she would admit, but she had been in the business for nearly fifty years, long before he was born. She had left the trafficking circles almost three years ago, but Tom had not trusted her near his children until November of this year.

I will not mess this up, she thought to herself.

She hummed merrily to herself as the fire crackled and laughed, dancing orange and red as they swirled around in harmony.

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><p>Anna counted her brother's steady breaths.<p>

In. Out. In. Out.

Niklaus had the ability to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, something Anna longed to be able to do. She had heard her Nana close the door to her bedroom across the hall about an hour ago, and yet...Anna had trouble sleeping.

She was so excited! Her father had never told her she even had a Nana until November. That was when she met Nana who would always tell her stories and show her special little trinkets that Nana had collected. Nana said she travelled a lot back in her day. When she asked her father about Nana's old job, he had paled and stiffened and said that it let Nana travel a lot.

The grandfather clock in the living room downstairs clanged as the clock struck twelve. Midnight. Anna frowned. At this rate, Santa would _never_ come! Anna lay silently in her bed for another half hour until a small creak made her roll over and blink. Was someone in the house? No. This house was old, Anna knew. It made odd noises all the time. She looked towards the open doorway. Nana's door was closed and Anna didn't want to wake her. She always seemed so tired.

A shadow in the hallway made Anna sit up in bed. There was someone there! Maybe it was Santa Claus?

Anna beamed as she quietly padded across the room to stand in the doorway. A tall, dark shadow loomed over her.

"Are you Santa?" she asked. The shadow shifted—it was a man, Anna knew. He smelled like expensive cologne. Anna knew what expensive cologne smelled like. Her father's cologne was cheap and drowned out any other smells on his person. This man's cologne was nice, Anna thought. It smelled a bit like tropical fruits, but it was only slight. It reminded her of Mr. Collins that sometimes came by to visit her mother.

This man was slim, like the ballet dancers Anna would see practicing everyday at the studio in town. He was wearing all black—strange. Anna thought Santa Claus was fat, wore red, had a puffy white beard and carried a sack over his shoulders. This man had smooth, pale skin and was not carrying anything. Anna frowned. Was everyone lying? Is this what Santa looked like?

Tears began to brim in her eyes.

The stranger frowned and whispered, "Don't cry. Go back to sleep."

"You're Santa, aren't you?"

The man frowned. His hair was blond, Anna realized. She had thought it was white in the dimness of the corridor but it seemed a bit more yellow than white. "No."

Anna opened her mouth to scream. Her parents always told her not to talk to strangers. If this wasn't Santa then she should call for help.

The man abruptly covered her mouth with a leather-clad hand. "Shh..." he hushed her. "I'm not St. Nicholaus but I am one of his helpers and I've come to deliver a special present.

Anna's green eyes widened and she clapsed her hands together. "You must be one of his elves then!"

The man's ice blue eyes narrowed. "Yes, I am one of St. Nicholaus' elves." He knelt down to her level. "But I cannot give anyone these presents unless everyone is asleep, and that includes you."

Anna let her eyes drift towards the floor. "I'm sorry. I was just so excited to see Santa. I suppose I'll go back to sleep, then."

She moved towards the door and slowly climbed into the bed. Anna pulled the covers over her head and the blond man with the pretty eyes started to close the door. "Don't worry, I'm just closing it so you won't see me when I give your grandmother her present first. Sleep and tomorrow there will be a nice little gift for you and your brother."

Anna nodded fervently. He was a pretty man. Pretty people were nice. He seemed nice. And he was one of Santa's helpers. And he promised Anna a present!

"Merry Christmas," she whispered.

The man smiled sadly. "Merry Christmas."

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><p>The next morning Anna and Niklaus raced downstairs to find several presents under the Christmas tree.<p>

"Where's Nana?" asked Niklaus.

Anna waved away his concerns. "Nana will be down later. She's probably sleeping."

Niklaus frowned in concern. "Nana's always awake before us...maybe we should—" He broke off as Anna grabbed his arm to keep him from running upstairs. She wanted to know what the man had planned on giving the two of them.

"Let's just open one present first. Then we'll go wake Nana."

Niklaus scowled and pulled back his arm. "Fine."

Anna grinned. "I'll start."

She surveyed the gifts that were all wrapped in bright colours, save for a pale icy blue one. She picked up the small box that was so perfectly wrapped and smiled as she read the tag.

_To: Anna_

_From: Santa's Elf_

Anna greedily ripped off the wrapping and her small, chubby fingers stopped and hovered uncertainly. Inside a clear box was a small bug. It had two sharp looking pincers and a tail that curved upwards. Anna thought it was quite pretty and showed Niklaus whose eyes bugged out in horror. "Who gave you that?"

Anna smirked smugly. "Santa's elf."

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><p>Nana dissapeared the night before Christmas and never returned. Anna and Niklaus' father had called the Police who showed up and later rolled down a stretcher with a small lump covered with a white sheet.<p>

Anna showed her father the gift from Santa's elf. He paled considerably at the sight of the bug and took it away from her.

The Police asked her about it and she told them Santa's helper gave it to her. They told her that man was not Santa's helper but instead a bad man. A criminal. Anna was shocked. How could such a nice person be a criminal?

Her father told her that man was the one who took Nana away from them.

Anna cried and blamed herself.

Not all pretty people were nice.

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><p>This was a spur-of-the-moment thing but I enjoyed it immensely. I had the idea of Yassen in my mind when I wrote this little one-shot. I implied it but I did not actually mention it was him.<p>

Appearances are deceiving, aren't they?

~ LovesWritingJ


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